DOG: Sawmill Makeover

Mattie Dog poses in front of Mt. Dog at the "Sawmill"

While Fan has been struggling and bitching and plumbing his way through a new bathroom project, I, like the smart squirrel who stores his nuts for winter (although I use mine year round), have been lumberjacking since early spring.

I've taken trees down for folks, cut up trees that were already down from storms and aborted lumberjacking projects by a homeowner, and cut up trees that were taken down due to building projects. So I've accumulated lots of good wood for this winter. Problem is/was that I was running out of places to put more logs in my back yard.

To explain, my back yard is split in half by a very nice winding brick walk which I installed some years ago to make my house handicap accessible for when my father lived with me. One side of the walk is like a pleasant garden with flowerbeds, patio, picnic table, bar, and landscaping. That is Mrs. Dog's side. On the other side, my side.... well it's a fucking sawmill. I got a hydraulic log splitter over there and stacks and stacks of wood in all phases of development. Logs that need to be cut, cut logs that need to be split, split logs that need to be stacked, and stacked logs that need to be burned. It was full of pallets on which logs could be stacked. But half of them had rotted out from years back there. It's pretty much a mess.

Now we're having this backyard BBQ for Mrs. Dog who is graduating from college next month. So I got to get the sawmill side in order before we have guests over. And you know I have a backyard BBQ just about every weekend and sometimes my friends come over too. But I guess there's gonna be people from her work there so, much as I hate to do it, I've got to put on appearances. For two weeks I've been splitting wood and I'm not near done with just that part. So this weekend I cleaned out the rest of the storage area and next weekend I hope to wrap this up.

I've got a mountain of split wood which is about 6 1/2 feet tall by 12 feet long by I don't know the depth of it, it's variable. People say, "How many cords is that?"

I say, "Who gives a shit?" I ain't selling wood, and I ain't buying wood. The only people who need to worry about what a cord of wood is are the people buying and selling firewood. I ask myself this question only, "Is that going to be enough to heat my house this winter?" That's all I give a shit about. Well that, and of course if the final makeover the sawmill side gets is satisfactory with Mrs. Dog.